Never Nevermore
by girlreadsalot
Summary: Max is trying to figure out how she's going to save the world. Better yet, what she's saving it from. When people start getting sick and disease starts spreading through blood it's clear what the end of the world is. Croatoan. A nasty disease that basically turns people into zombies through blood-to-blood contact. Great, now the flock has one simple task. Stay alive.
1. Chapter 1

_**Oh would you look at that?! Another work in progress by me! Wowie! Anyways, this is going to be called Never Nevermore, because I think that this series was incredible and deserved such a better ending than the shit-one it actually received. In my opinion, this is how Nevermore should have ended and I'm not sure how many chapters it's going to be, but I'll try to update as faithfully as I can.**_

_**I'd like to come right out and say that I do not own the Maximum Ride series and also the italicized text in the beginning might look a little familiar. It's the very last Chapter of Nevermore and I know that it's mega bad to do, but I'd like to say that I do NOT OWN THAT TEXT and I even sourced it afterwards, which you can chose to ignore. I can also assure you that this is the one and only time I will use direct text from any book EVER in a fic. **_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

"**GET UP**, _a fuzzy voice shrieked, _**Get up get up get up. **_It sounded water-soaked, low and slow. Was it my Voice or Angel's or someone else's entirely? I didn't even know if it was real._

_ The ringing in my head grew, turning into a sound like the hiss of rushing water, an echo bouncing around like a rubber ball inside my head. Wind whipped around me and the hiss grew to a wail. My brain throbbed._

_ I covered my ears and felt wetness. The metallic smell of blood burned in my nostrils. I pried open my eyes, and that's when the hurricane-strength needles of rain started to hit my face. I turned to look for help and felt my stomach lurch as a strong arm yanked me back, keeping me from plummeting over the edge of the cliff. "Get up!" Fang yelled in my face, finally piercing through my confusion and dragging me to my feet. _

_ I looked across the cliffs for the other kids, but saw only a wall of water out in the sea. Not just a wall—a massive wall, miles long and taller than a skyscraper. Surrounding us. The monstrous wave grew more massive by the second, almost blotting out the smoking sky as it surged towards the precarious crag we clung to. _

_ A mega-tsunami. _

_ I instinctively tried to flap, but a searing pain shot through my mangled, bleeding wing. Panic froze my heart. This was it. _

_ There would be no more. _

_ I felt of sob of self-pity building in my chest, but Fang held my face in his hands and looked at me urgently, his eyes locked on mine. _

_ "I love you, Max," Fang said, and those words, the ones I'd been waiting to hear forever, towered above all the chaos, making everything else fall away. While universes were built and destroyed by those words. There were tears in his eyes. "God, Max, I love you so much."_

_ **I know,** I thought. **I've always known**. _

_ Then Fang's stormy eyes grew blacker than I'd ever seen them as the looked past me, at our fate. I turned to see the wave swelling toward us, seconds away, the white foam of its mouth howling higher and higher. But I wasn't surprised, or scared, or even angry. I accepted it like a friendly wind, come to fly me home. _

_ **It's okay**, I thought. And it was. _

_ Fang kissed my eyelids, my cheeks, and then my lips one more time, whisper soft, then he clutched my head to his chest and we took one last deep breath, wrapping ourselves up in each other's arms for eternity as the warm water crashed over the cliff and swallowed us whole. _

_ **I love you, too, Fang**."_

(James Patterson, Nevermore)

* * *

I sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath as I slammed a fist on the blaring of my alarm clock screaming at me from the shelf next to my bed. Once I took in the messy room that I shared with three other girls and realized I was at my mom's house with the rest of the flock instead of drowning to death, I let out a relieved chuckle.

The world was going to end with comets setting the sky on fire and a giant wall of water was going to kill me. Yeah right.

Fang was going to confess his undying love for me only moments before my death. What an even bigger _yeah right_.

"What a stupid dream," I muttered to myself before nearly falling off of my top bunk as I tried to climb down.

The flock and I were all safe, happy, healthy, hungry—although, that's nothing new because we're literally _always_ hungry, and even worse we're subjected to mediocre public education five days out of the week for nine or so months of the year.

If I had to describe what anarchy and chaos looked like, I would simply tell them of the mornings in my mom's small three bedroom and one bathroom home.

As usual, Nudge was already awake. She sat on the bedroom floor with clothes scattered everywhere because they were the outfits she'd deemed unworthy to wear that day. Jewelry, makeup, and hair accessories were sitting around her as she tried to make herself presentable for the day.

I tried really hard not to step on her stuff, but unfortunately, a hair clip met an untimely death under my barefoot. I stifled a string of curses.

"I heard that," Angel said from the bottom bunk of the bunk-beds we shared. She was already dressed in jeans and a pink t-shirt, her hair clipped to the side with a matching barrette.

I didn't know how I managed to sleep through the noise the two of them usually made, but I was glad that I did…sort of. That dream had really kind of freaked me out.

"Will you please be quiet?" A voice asked, nestled next to Angel's side. Total raised his head to look pointedly at me. "I need my beauty rest before Akila comes this weekend with the pups. They tire me out."

I rolled my eyes, "You're always beautiful Total."

"Oh don't lie to me. I look hideous in the mornings and you know it."

I raised a brow at Angel, who responded with a roll of her blue eyes. I was hungry and pushed my way into the hallway, which was more chaotic than usual.

My little sister, Ella, banged on the door with a fist. "Gazzy, will you hurry up already?! Some of us still need the shower and if there's no hot water I'm going to kill you!"

I silently wished her the best of luck with that. There was hardly ever hot water in the house. With nine people showering in the same house, all of their laundry, and the dishwasher constantly running, there was hardly any hot water ever. I didn't even want to know what my mom's water bill was.

Iggy always claimed that he did his part by simply avoiding taking showers, but we all knew that he'd get up at two in the morning to shower. Hell, he probably needed them to be cold considering he was an overly hormonal bird-kid.

My mom hurried down the hall, looking flustered. "Ella, have you seen my lab coat? I'm running late for work." Her brown eyes spotted me and softened, "good morning, Max."

"Mornin'." I mumbled back before telling her that I saw her coat downstairs in the dryer.

Iggy followed not far behind her, looking particularly irritable and unlike a morning person more than ever.

"You're shirt's inside you," I said following close behind him. The black stamp where the tag usually went stuck out boldly against the plain white shirt.

He sighed and stepped to the side before stripping off his shirt, revealing his skinny pale body and dappled grey wings. "Damn whoever decided that tagless shirts were a good idea. It makes it awfully hard for the blind kid to dress himself properly."

"Yeah, well hurry up and cover that shit back up. I'm being blinded." I pushed past him to the stairs and headed down to the kitchen.

Fang was holding an impressively sized cup of coffee in his hand, glaring at Dylan (who was reading the newspaper, not taking notice of Fang) from across the room.

"Wow, you can cut the hostility in here with a knife." I said, pulling a bowl from the dishwasher.

Dylan glanced up at me quickly before turning his attention back to the paper. He knew I was still peeved at him for the misogynist bullshit he'd tried to pull on me last week. He tried telling me who to date. Specifically, him.

It was clear that he was über jealous of Fang. Which, was ridiculous because Fang and I aren't even together anymore! And no matter what my dreams try to convince me to do, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Fang was too smart to get involved with the entire situation despite the fact that I still got crushy and angsty teenager vibes towards him whenever I was around him.

He held up his cup of coffee to his grin, "You look rather…dapper this morning."

I knew he was lying to me. My hair was in a ratty bun on top of my head and I was pretty sure I had that crusty white stuff at the corners of my mouth from drooling in my sleep. I gave him the finger and snatched his gargantuan cup of coffee from him before draining half of its lukewarm, too-sweet contents.

"Hey!"

"Did you forget that I'm not a morning person?" I asked as I poured the last of the Rice Crispies into a cereal bowl and added milk.

"How could I forget? You're not an anytime person."

I have him a warning look as I spooned the cereal into my mouth. I tried to eat all of it before it got soggy because seriously, nothing was worse than soggy cereal. Like, gag me. I'd rather go back to eating desert rat before I ate a soggy bowl of Cheerios.

Once I ate and had my daily dose of caffeine, I dropped the dishes into the sink and went back upstairs to make myself at least halfway presentable before the school van arrived to pick us up.

The Gasman passed me in the hallway, looking tired but clean. "Morning, Max."

I paused to ruffle his wet blonde hair, "Morning, Gaz." My brown eyes studied the growing boy and paused at the hem of his blue sweater. A light tan feather was peeking out between the waistband of his jeans and his shirt. I tucked it in. "Watch your wings, kiddo. I know you're outgrowing clothes like crazy right now, but we don't need to be found out."

He nodded, "Thanks." Then disappeared down the hall.

It was a miracle really, that I managed to wrangle my hair into something that looked halfway decent. It was also another miracle that Nudge was no longer in the room so I could dress myself as I pleased without having to worry about her trying to intervene.

Fifteen minutes later, the grey school van pulled up and we piled in like clowns into a tiny car.

If there was anything that actually made me want to go to school, it was the ride there. The mornings in the house were always madness, but you were just asking for a fiasco when you put seven bird kids and a human one into the same car.

Nudge and Gazzy were shouting over top of one another about whether or not chocolate chips belonged in pancakes or not and I was worried that they were going to start throwing punches soon.

Iggy's patience was wearing thin and he looked like he was going to reach up and knock their heads together. Which, I was okay with because it was less work for me.

Angel was in the front seat chattering away to the driver, who was only half-listening.

Ella was making doe-eyes at Dylan, who was staring at me like a professional stalker and basically ignoring her as she tried to get his attention.

In turn, Fang was glaring at Dylan.

While I was staring out the window, praying for the driver to freakin' stand on it so I could get the hell out of there.


	2. Chapters Two and Three

_**Alright guys, chapters two and three were too short to publish separately, so I combined the two of them. As far as the plot goes, I'm up to Chapter Eleven in my plot line. I'll probably update about weekly (or so). I'm actually plotting this one out before I publish the entire thing so I know where it's going to go. Also, if you read please tell me what you think! **_

_**I'd like to thank acreepyguyinawhitevan for reviewing the last chapter. It means a lot to me!**_

_**xoxo,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

If you asked each member of the flock what their favorite classes were you'd get some varied responses. Nudge would tell you Math, Dylan would say chemistry or biology, The Gasman would tell you History, Angel would say reading, and Fang would say art.

There was one thing that Iggy and I could agree on, our favorite time of the day was lunchtime despite the fact that school lunches were rather revolting.

I plopped my tray full of unhealthy food down in across from Fang and Iggy. The younger kids had a different schedule than we did and therefore had different lunches. It wasn't until I sat down and picked up a pathetic looking French fry that I realized that Dylan wasn't sitting among us.

"Where's Dylan?"

Fang jerked his chin to a table across the cafeteria, chewing on a decent-sized hunk of pizza.

I followed his dark-eyed gaze to find Dylan sitting at a packed table across from a petite, pretty blonde girl. Just like the rest of the school's female population, she was staring at him like she was star-struck. "Hmph," I said, dipping a fry in ketchup. "Good for him."

I didn't acknowledge the pang of jealousy that seared red-hot through my veins. Why would I be jealous? That's just stupid. Dylan was pompous, annoying, too perfect, and practically looked like a celebrity cut out. He wasn't my type.

A small voice in the back of my head reminded me of the few kisses we'd shared and how I'd actually enjoyed locking my lips with said person.

Then again, I'd kissed Fang dozens of times and I'd liked that too.

Ugh, boys.

I refused to let boys become an issue in my life. I had too much going on right now to worry about them. I had mediocre at best grades, no social life, a flock to look after, and a world to save. Not to mention the whole genetic-freak-with-wings issue.

"Is it Friday yet?" Iggy asked, his mouth packed full of cheeseburger. Yep, he still had the table manners of a ravenous wolf.

"No, it's only Tuesday."

He huffed and sat back, tapping his fingers on the table. "I'm so pumped for the weekend. We're gonna rock the speakers out of that park!"

Although he was blind, Iggy actually had a great ear for music and could play a drum set really well. He and a few of his friends had started a band they called Bad Juju, whose music is actually a little better than their name.

Saturday was a music festival in the local park and Bad Juju had a main stage performance. I know the flock, my mom, and my sister were planning on attending, but I wasn't so sure if I wanted to go. There were going to hundreds of people there. Then again, it was outside so if something happened I could escape easily enough.

I picked at the chicken nuggets on my tray, the meat inside of them wasn't white. It was grey. So it was safe to assume that they were stuffing "the other white meat" down our throats. I didn't complain, though. It was better than eating out of dumpsters and enough ketchup could mask any horrible taste.

I poked at my Jell-O that tasted like cough syrup while I mulled over the duty I'd been assigned for what, two years now?

Save the world.

Three words that literally drove me insane. How the hell was I supposed to do that? I don't think other sixteen year olds—mutant or not—had a task this ridiculous.

"How do you think the world is going to end?" I asked them.

"Zombies," Iggy answered instantly.

"Unlikely, but not impossible."

"An asteroid hits earth and blocks out the sun," Fang offered. "Or knocks the moon out of balance causing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, and mass chaos. Or, maybe nuclear warfare."

I resisted the urge to groan. Stopping any of the above things was going to be a pain in my ass.

* * *

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get to sleep. I was too busy thinking about our conversation at lunch. I needed to clear my head.

The moon was full and bright, shining through the pale curtains in the window, the crickets and cicadas were making all sorts of racket, and the air was too warm. I was practically roasting alive in my bed.

Silently, I slipped from my bunk and pulled on a pair of jeans. I crept out of the room I shared with the three other girls silently before going downstairs and cramming my feet in my sneakers.

I ran across the yard and pushed off the ground, flapping my wings hard one, two, three times before I was soaring above the house and the tress.

Laying still in the house, the air was thick and stagnant. It had practically suffocated me. Now that I was outside, cutting through the night sky swiftly and silently, the air was cool against my bare arms and face. It was refreshing.

It was also nice to be by myself for a change. Now, I know I don't have the best track record for flying alone. There's been a time or two where I'd been shot out of the sky mid-flight, but it was different now. We were safe…well, as safe as I thought we were ever going to be.

I love the flock dearly, they're the only family I've ever had and have ever known (well, until my mom and Ella came into my life). Being around them for extended periods of time tended to drive me a little insane.

By myself, I could finally hear myself think. Not literally, of course. The Voice had been MIA for quite some time.

For a while, I just soared in big arcs, dipping and diving, feeling the amazing stretch of my wing muscles as they started to loosen up and work hard.

After I got bored with that, I started practicing evasive and defensive maneuvers. I realized that I was starting to get a little out of shape. I hadn't been flying as much as I used to and made a mental note to fly at least once or twice a day.

While I decided to try out my fancy footwork and try out a backflip, I saw a figure surging towards me quickly. It was close and I righted myself before balling my hand up into a fist and punching the figure square the jaw.

"Ouch!" Dylan exclaimed, rubbing his jaw. He looked at me with a scowl, "What was that for?"

"That's what you get for sneaking up on me." I replied, crossing my arms. "What are you doing out here? You should be sleeping."

"I could say the same for you."

I glared at him.

"I was just wondering if we could talk."

"Yeah, sure." I started the descent towards the house and landed lightly on the roof, running a few steps to keep myself from doing a face plant.

We sat on the rough shingles side by side, staring out at the starry sky.

I was still super pissed off at Dylan for what he'd told me a couple weeks ago. Basically, because he was "my perfect other half" that gave him the right to tell me what I could and couldn't do, who I could and couldn't see.

"I'll listen to what you have to say, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do what you tell me to do." I informed him.

"About that," his fingers picked at a shingle as he spoke. It was as if he was too afraid to look me in the eye. "I'm really sorry about what I said. I know I had no right."

Maybe because I could count on one hand the number of times I'd apologized (whether I'd been right or wrong), I found myself staring at him. "I'm listening…_intently_."

"Despite the fact that _technically_ I'm the right choice for you, doesn't mean you actually have to be with me." He saw my fierce look and held up his hands in surrender, "And I'm only saying that because I was made to be your perfect other half. No harm intended. I get it now, though, that there are other reasons to want to be with someone other than the fact that you're supposed to be."

I chewed my lip, drumming my fingers on my knees. This was a sudden one-eighty from the way he'd been thinking last week and it made me curious. Why would he suddenly change his mind? Then it dawned on me, "Is this about that girl from lunch? You know, the blonde one you were make cow-eyes at?"

"Her name is Sydney. She's a really sweet girl, she doesn't treat me like those other girls do. Like I'm some sort of—"

"Object?" I offered.

"Yeah," Dylan nodded, "Like I'm just a prize waiting to be won. She treats me like I'm a person and that's really great. She's really sweet, quiet, and kinda smart."

"Are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. We're just friends right now, but maybe that'll change in the future."

"Good for you," I said.

He looked at me, his blue eyes squinted in confusion. It was like he wasn't sure if I was being sarcastic or not.

"No, I mean it. You really deserve to be happy." I said, giving him a small smile.

"Oh," he eased up, returning the smile. "Thanks." Something about his smile still seemed a little sad, it didn't completely reach his eyes.

But because I'm not a total sap, I didn't ask about it. Instead, I rose, brushed off my jeans, and bade him a goodnight.

He did the same.

I dropped off the roof, hovered outside my window long enough to open it, and crawled inside.

If Dylan ever mentioned the chick-flicky moment we shared, I was going to deny it with every fiber of my being.


	3. Chapter Four

_**Here is Chapter Five, guys! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, but what can I do? I'm just going to keep writing and hope that whoever is reading it (whether they review or not) enjoys it! I have big plans for this story and although this chapter seems like a filler right now (and maybe even a little bit cliche), things are going to be picking up speed rather quickly. Do me a favor and spread the word about it!**_

_**Also, if you like science-fiction, young adult, independent work, please check out my personal story **__**Ashes to Ashes**__** on by conquestador123. It's got aliens, a kickass heroine (thought not as kickass as Max), explosions, death, secrets, lies, and angst! **_

_**Enjoy Chapter Five!**_

_**xoxo,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

Saturday was an exciting day for the flock—mainly for Iggy. The house was once again, a flurry of activity, which was unusual for Saturday mornings. Most weekends, I laid around in my pajamas all day and fought with Total over the television.

Instead, the flock was wanting to help Iggy pack his drums, help Ella make cookies for the choir bake sale (two dozen cookies went missing overnight, but don't blame me. The chocolate on my face was from something else.), Nudge wanted to wear something nice and modern that didn't make her look like too much of a hipster, and I was trying not to rip my hair out.

Iggy, the one who had the most to worry about, was actually the only calm one. He alternated between tearing apart his drum set and packing his sticks to peeking his head in the kitchen to give Ella a little bit of baking advice and taste testing on occasion.

"Max, can I help Bad Juju set up for their performance tonight?" Gazzy asked me, with hopeful blue eyes as he looked up from handing Iggy a tool that he needed.

I looked at Fang, who was hefting up the base drum to load it into the back of the van. I needed a second opinion.

Fang subtly gave me a nod.

"Yeah sure, just don't get hurt okay?"

He nodded and smiled at me, "Thanks!"

"Max," Angel said standing in the doorway, "Nudge can't find her pink sparkled sneakers."

"I haven't seen them. Have total check under the bed or something."

Angel vanished and was replaced by Ella, who had flower in her beautiful dark hair and streaked across her cheek. "Can you try this for me?"

Iggy was reaching for it, but I pushed his hand away and snatched the cookie before Ella could object. I took a bite and nodded enthusiastically. "They're great. Save me a couple dozen."

"Are you going to pay fifty cents for each one?"

I gave her a "hell-no" look.

"Then you don't get anymore."

"Anymore how do you know it was me who ate them in the middle of the night?"

"Total was awake."

"That little rat, I'm going to mop the floor with him."

"Guys, can everybody come to the living room please?" My mom called. She wasn't very assertive, so her request went ignored.

"Hey!" I shouted, causing those within ear-shot to wince. "Everybody in the living room, _now_!"

She smiled at me, "Thanks Max."

"No problem," I replied with a grin as I, for lack of a better term, flocked the flock into the living room.

"I have something to give to you guys," my mom said setting a box on the coffee table. She opened it and produced a black t-shirt. On the front was a tribal-looking shrunken head with the words "Bad Juju" under it, she turned it around and the back read "Iggy" in big letters and under it "Drummer". "Iggy, this one's for you."

He took it, running his fingers over the fabric. A dopey grin broke across his features as they traced the emblem on the front, then the letters on the back. "Wow, Ms. M. This is great. Thank you so much!"

"I've got some for your band members too, and some for your groupies." She passed out a shirt to each of us. Each of them had the shrunken head and the name of the band on the front, but just the word "Groupie" on the back.

Iggy got all sentimental—well, as sentimental as he could get—and pulled my mom into a hug. "They're perfect."

"Alright, so this festival isn't _that_ bad." I told Angel between licks of my strawberry ice cream cone.

"That's just because there's a ton of food here," she answered me with a grin.

"You're right."

They deep fried things at this place I never thought I'd see fried in my entire life. Oreos (sent straight from heaven), pickles (not too shabby either), cinnamon rolls, and of course French fries. I'd tried all of the above and determined that if congestive heart failure from eat too much fried food is what killed me, I'd go out happy.

Aside from the food, the festival was actually kind of cool too. If you were a nerd about music.

Angel and I passed a steel drum, making it feel like I should be on a beach in Jamaica instead of a local park in Arizona.

As we continued down the path, we passed a bunch of people just hanging out under a tree with their guitars, having an unorganized jam session. Then we passed an acapella group sitting at a picnic table singing some modern song.

Okay, even _I_ had to admit this stuff was kinda cool. Even though there were four stages throughout the park featuring bands and groups performing all different kinds of music, people still gathered around and played and sang anyways. Not only that, but people actually stopped to listen to them.

"I found Dylan and Nudge," Angel said pulling on my arm to stop me.

A quick scan around the surrounding area proved that Nudge and Dylan were a part of the large acapella group around the picnic table.

I remembered that one hotel the flock had stayed in during one of our publicity stunts, where the pair of them had sang for the reporters and had blown them away.

I had to admit, the pair of them were great singers.

After the song finished, emitting laughter and cheers from members of the group and those who had paused to watch, Nudge jumped off the table and rushed up to me. "Max! I'm going to join choir next year at school. Isn't that cool!"

"Way cool," I assured her with a smile.

"Can I eat the rest of that?" She asked, pointing at my ice cream.

With a shrug I passed it over to her. It was melting faster that I was eating it anyways.

Dylan strolled up to us, Sydney tucked under his arm.

She grinned as they approached. When they stopped in front of me she held out her hand, "I'm Sydney. You must be Max?"

"The one and only," I replied shaking her hand. Giving a small smile to Dylan. She wasn't staring at us like we were some sort of circus act, like the others tended to. Especially now that we'd been public for some time. Sure, we tried our best to hide our wings just to provide the others at our school with a sense of normalcy, but it was no secret that we had them.

"We're going to be late for the bad!" Ella exclaimed, running down the path towards us. She'd worked the choir bake sale all day. She grabbed my hand and practically drug me behind her towards the stage Iggy and his friends were performing on.

When we arrived, the stage was surrounded by enough people to make my skin crawl and my heart rate speed up. None of them were paying attention to us, though. They were all staring at the stage, lit up by red lights that cast everything in an eerie glow.

The Gasman was on the stage placing water bottles next to the mike stands and the instruments.

Fang was there too, taping down an extension cord to keep the members of the band from tripping over it.

The pair of them rushed off the stage and moments later the band came on.

The crowed—myself and the flock included—cheered and screamed as they took their positions on the stage.

"Hi everybody," The lead singer named Jack said into the microphone. "We're the band known as Bad Juju, if you're looking for the Brokoski Brass Band, you're in the right place at the wrong time." He chuckled, but nobody laughed. He swallowed nervously and tugged at the neckline of the new shirt my mom had bought. "Anyways, we had a lot of help today making this possible for us. We'd like to thank Iggy—our drummer's mom—Valencia Martinez for the t-shirts. We'd also like to that Fang and The Gasman for helping us set up the stage today. We're here to rock and we hope you have a rockin' time."

Iggy tapped out the tempo on his drumsticks and the band started up. They sounded just a little better than every other generic garage rock band.

The crowd cheered between the songs and I couldn't help but be impressed by Iggy's skill on the drum set.

For being blind, the lanky bird-kid was more talented than most humans. He could really pound out a decent beat on that drum set.

A movement in the corner of my eye rips my attention from the stage and causes me to jump a little bit.

Fang smirked at me because he'd manage to scare me.

I punched his arm, "You scared me, jerk!" I shouted over the sound of the band.

"Looks like everybody's having a good time," he said in my ear.

I looked around and nodded with a smile.

Angel was sitting on Dylan's shoulders as he stood with his arm around Sydney.

Nudge and Gazzy were jumping up and down singing the songs they'd heard practiced in the garage dozens of times.

Iggy was totally in the zone on stage.

Everybody was happy.

I couldn't help but wonder how long it was going to last.


	4. Chapter Five

_**Okay, so last chapter was actually chapter four but I kept calling it Chapter Five and that was my mistake! I'd been working on this chapter (the real Chapter Five) before posting chapter five so I was kind of confused. This is the chapter where things start to pick up a little bit. So, do me favor and do the three R's. Relax, Read, and Review!**_

_**xoxo,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

The days were getting longer, the air was starting to warm up, and the light breeze caressed my skin as I sprawled out in a very unladylike way in a plastic lawn chair on the deck, eating a hotdog like it was my job.

Surprisingly, everything was fairly calm and quiet around the house. The younger kids and Dylan were flying around, Iggy was practically in food coma while he lounged in the hammock, I was too busy stuffing my face to be particularly hostile, and Fang was MIA.

The only thing that could ruin this night was—

"Ugh," Iggy groaned, "I don't want to go back to school tomorrow."

—The fact that it was Sunday and we had to go back to school the next day.

I looked up from my fifth hotdog and made a sound of agreement. "Unfortunately, having a roof over our heads, full stomachs, and fresh clothes to wear has its price."

"Yeah, _school_." His voice dripped disgust. "Why couldn't it be something like I have to wash a hobo's beard or something like that? I'd rather do that than have to solve an algebra problem."

"I'll let a hobo know if he needs his beard washed and braided that I have just the guy."

He gave me a half-hearted thumbs up.

My brown eyes scanned the sky, looking for the flock. I could barely make out four specks in the distance, swooping and soaring above the clouds. I wondered once again, where Fang was. Maybe he was inside doing an art project or riling up his insane fangirls on his blog.

Whatever, he was a big boy. He could do what he wanted.

I popped the last bit of hotdog number five in my mouth and choked out in surprise as my chair pitched forward. I picked myself up off the deck (I was going to be surprised if I didn't have splinters in my hands) and turned around.

Fang grinned back at me from a few feet away. He'd managed to sneak up on me because not only could he walk silently when he felt inclined, but he used his power of blending into his surroundings for evil. Like, nearly making me choke on my dinner.

"Fang you jackass!" I shrieked, "I nearly choked you jerk!"

He chuckled.

"That tears it!" I jumped over the toppled chair and lunged for him.

He yelped out in surprise before jumping off the deck and going air-born. His powerful black wings glistened with a purple sheen in the late evening sun. "You want me Max?" He ignored Iggy's muttered "of course she does" (which, I made a mental note to repay him for that later) and said, "You've gotta catch me first."

I found myself smiling back, "You don't stand a chance, Fang!" Mere seconds later I was zipping through the air to catch up to him. With my ability to reach nearly super-sonic speeds while flying he didn't stand a chance if I _really_ wanted to catch him. Even without it, I was still the fastest member of the flock.

When I'd just get close enough to grab his ankle, his arm, or to tap his wing with mine, he'd lithely dip out of the way. Finally, I managed to hit his shoulder with my wing. "You're it!"

He smirked at me, his dark hair flopping in his eyes slightly. My mom had tried to get him to get his hair cut multiple times and each time he told her that it wasn't too shaggy yet and he'd be fine. His dark eyes flickered from me to the hammock.

I let out a laugh and nodded silently.

Fang landed in the yard, ran to where Iggy was laying and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ouch, Fang! What the hell!" The blind kid demanded, sitting up quickly.

"You're it!" Then, Fang flipped the hammock over, dumping Iggy on the ground before he was airborne again.

Iggy liked to use his blindness to pick up girls at school because they took pity on him and wanted to "help him out", but I knew better than that. Although he was blind, at times he had the advantage over the rest of the flock. He could hear better than any of us, he could tell who we were by our footsteps, our skin, our feathers, he could cheat a monopoly (which is why we never let him be the banker), pick locks, and even build bombs.

Right now, he was right on Fang's tail trying to pay him back for disturbing his catnap.

I turned and looked in the direction the rest of the flock had been previously and frowned when I saw them flying towards me as fast as their wings could carry them.

That was never a good sign. Nine times out of ten it meant that our peaceful evening was going to be turned into a massacre.

Nudge carried a little bundle in her arms, wrapped in her green windbreaker. She looked afraid and Angel looked just as concerned as she did.

She didn't even stop as she landed in the yard, ran up onto the deck and started pounding on the sliding glass door that lead to the living room. Not long after my mom appeared on the porch, Angel and The Gasman joined her.

"What's going on?" I demanded, grabbing Dylan's wrist as he coasted by.

His eyes flicked from my wrist to my face. "There was a rabbit that was hurt, all bloody and dying, and they saved it and brought it to your mom. I don't know if she'll be able to help it, it's pretty bad."

"_That's_ what Nudge was freaked out about?" I asked with narrow eyes. "Remind me to kick her feathered butt later and remind her not to scare me so badly over a stupid rabbit."

"I didn't think about that," Dylan said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, I told them to hurry back to the house to see if your mom could save it."

I whapped him with my wing in annoyance. "My good mood is ruined. I'm going to take a shower and get the kids ready for bed."

Fang gave a stony nod before I landed on the lawn.

My mom said she'd take the rabbit to the office to see what she could do to help it and I told her I would hold down the fort.

"I know you will," She smiled at me. "You've done a good job so far."

Pride blossomed in my chest. Although I knew that I'd done a damn good job caring for the flock, it felt good to hear it from somebody. "Thanks, mom."

After she left, I cornered Nudge and told her I wasn't mad but she needed to not scare me so badly next time she wanted to play Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

* * *

Later that night, after everybody was in bed, my mom still wasn't home from the clinic.

I paced back and forth in the living room anxiously, ignoring the way Total watched me from the couch. I was literally ten seconds away from flying out to find her, when Fang came down the stairs.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked me.

"Mom isn't home yet."

Recognition flickered in his dark eyes and he gave a small nod. "You think something happened to her?"

"I don't know," I admitted, rubbing my temples. I was starting to get a headache from the stress.

He put a hand on my shoulder, "I'll go with you if you want to look for her."

My breath caught in my throat. I stared at him. I knew what he meant, "I will always be your second hand. I'll always have your back".

"I know," I managed after I could breathe again. "Maybe we should tell Dylan that—"

The phone rang shrilly from the wall and I rushed to answer it. "Hello?" I steeled myself to hear whatever voice would be on the other end. Maybe it was somebody telling me that my mom was being held hostage.

"Max, I think you should come to the clinic."

The tightness in my chest vanished when my mom's voice came over the phone and I was able to breathe normally for the first time in what felt like hours. "Why?"

"There's something seriously wrong with the rabbit the kids saved. I think you should come take a look at it."

I glanced at Fang, who was frowning while he waited for me to relay the information my mom was giving me. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, mom was letting us into the back door of her clinic. It seemed like forever ago that I'd stepped foot in it for the first time. It was where mom had dug some lead from a shotgun shell out of my shoulder and wings and had helped me heal.

The effect the animal hospital still had the same effect on me as it always did. The overly-clean smell of bleach and other cleaning agents stung my nose and made my throat burn, the sterile equipment made me want to jump out a window, the barking and meowing of pets in the back room made me want to scream and rip my hair out. It resurfaced far too many unpleasant memories.

I glanced at Fang out of the corner of my eye, if it was bothering him he didn't really show it. His only tell was that the pale color of his face stood out against his black hoodie. His dark eyes met mine and he quickly looked away. "So, what's going on?"

"There's something wrong with the rabbit the kids tried to save," Mom explained as she led us to a shiny stainless steel lab table. She pulled on some gloves and maneuvered the dead rabbit so we could see it.

"Like what?"

"It has some sort of blood infection. I've never seen it before. It's completely new."

"So, what? You think Itex is behind this?" I asked.

My mom looked at me, "I'm saying it's a very real possibility. This infection is what killed the rabbit. I need you guys to be extra careful from now on."

"How does it spread?"

"I don't know. I haven't studied it that far. It's possible that if it's a blood infection it could be from a septic wound or transferred from blood-to-blood contact. Either way, tell the flock to be careful, keep an eye open for any other injured animals, and try not to get any cuts."


	5. Chapter Six

_**Okay, so this chapter is about two hundred words shorter than I'd like it to be, but that's okay. Things are starting to pick up and they're going to get exciting pretty fast! I just have one question, is anybody reading this story? There is literally no sign of life from the fanbase that this story even exists. If you read it and like it, let me know. Hate it? I'd like to know that too. I work very hard to give you quality chapters **__**once a week**__**! How many writers do that? Not many. Oh well, I guess. The only thing I can keep doing is continue to post. **_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

Despite everything being really freaky and taking nearly apocalyptic tones after finding that rabbit, everything was strangely…normal.

Nobody from Itex reared their ugly (and most likely genetically altered) heads like I had been anticipating since the infected rabbit incident a few days ago. Hell, Ella couldn't even tap me on the shoulder to get my attention without me nearly giving her a black eye. I was just waiting for the bad guys to pop up and ruin the only nice thing we've ever had.

School was almost over for the year, which was relieving and also exciting because it was going to be our first full year at school. Nobody was as excited for summer vacation as The Gasman, however. He was already making huge plans to build a tree house with Iggy, to go swimming with his friends, and fly all day every day.

The sun was beating down on our backs as we walked along the road towards the house. It was such a beautiful day that I told the van driver to go do whatever else he did besides driving a group of overly-loud bird kids to school.

"Max," Nudge asked me, "Can we fly?"

I smiled at her, unfurling my wings as I spoke. "Now, it would practically be illegal if we didn't fly on a nice day like today."

She let out a squeal of excitement and spread her tawny wings. She took off and after a few powerful downward strokes of her wings, she was airborne, her curly hair streaming behind her as she soared.

Angel laughed and took off after her, flapping her pure white wings for which she was named after.

Just as I was about to join the kids in the air, Fang's cool and clammy hand grabbed my wrist.

"What is your deal?" I asked him.

He didn't say anything, he just pointed to a spot next to the road with incredibly thick brush.

"What?" I wrenched my wrist free from his grip and went to the side of the road to inspect whatever Fang had pointed out. I crouched and pushed some of the brambles away and recoiled at the foul stench that reached my nose. "Oh my god, Fang! That's disgusting."

"Don't you think it's a little strange?" He asked as he crouched next to me. His nose was wrinkled against the stench of death and decay.

"That a cat is lying dead next to the road? Not really."

"It wasn't here yesterday."

"What? You're checking the brush for dead animals now?"

He scowled at me, but picked up a sturdy stick and poked at the cat. "No, what I'm saying is that it hasn't been here very long. Why does it look like something that's been here for a month?"

_That _is when I understood what he was trying to say. "You think it's infected like that rabbit had been."

He nodded. "Even if it had been hit by a car within the past twenty-four hours it wouldn't look like this."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Since when are you so observant and knowledgeable about animal decay?"

"Let's just say that after what your mom had said the other day, I've been keeping a close eye on everything." He pulled his black backpack off and rummaged through it before producing his windbreaker. He wrapped the dead cat up in it and rose. He cocked his head a little when he caught me staring at him open-mouthed. "What?"

"That's your windbreaker. You're going to ruin it."

He shrugged, "I can always get a new one or wash it. It's not really that big of a deal." He unfolded his black wings and shook out his feathers.

Fang had always had the prettiest wings out of the entire flock as far as I was concerned. Fifteen feet wide, pure black feathers that shone when the light hit them, and they were just as dark and mysterious as Fang himself. "We should take this to your mom."

I nodded, brushing my hands off on my jeans before taking off after him.

We made a quick detour to tell the flock that we were stopping at the clinic to see my mom. Angel stared at the windbreaker in Fang's arms, but didn't comment. She was probably rummaging around in his mind to figure it out.

We landed at the clinic and went through the lobby. I nodded at the receptionist, who nodded back at me before jabbering away into the phone about an open appointment for a schnauzer.

I knocked on the door of my mom's office, her lab coat was hanging on the hook by the door so I knew she was there.

She looked up from her computer. "Max, what a surprise!" She rose and walked over to Fang and me. "Is something wrong? Is everybody okay?"

"Everything is fine, mom." I assured her. "It's just that Fang found something he thought you should take a look at."

She peeked under the windbreaker to look at its putrid smelling contents. She cringed and took the bundle from his arms, carrying it to the shiny steel table the three of us had stood around days before. "You two, wash your hands. Get your arms and get under your fingernails. You don't need to catch anything nasty from that thing."

After doing what we were instructed to do, we joined my mom at the table again.

She picked up a scalpel and I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. Too many times, I'd seen innocent people get sliced open in painful ways.

She sliced it open.

I, Maximum Steel Stomach Ride, gagged as a pus-yellow liquid poured from the cat's carcass along with a few junks of something brown, which I assumed had once been its organs. That wasn't even the worst part. That thing had smelled horrid when it had been intact, but now that its insides were spewing into a tray on top of the table, it was absolutely revolting.

Next to me, Fang pressed his hand to his nose and mouth before darting to the nearest trashcan and upchucking like I wanted to. After the sounds of him puking his guts up ceased, he said from his crouched position next to the wastebasket, "What's wrong with it?"

"It's hard to tell right now," my mom answered. "It might be infected like the rabbit had been, but it seems like you've brought me a cat that's been dead for a week."

"That's the thing, Dr. M." He said, not rising from his place by the trashcan. His face was pale from being sick and it made his dark eyes really stand out. "That cat wasn't there yesterday. I think maybe the rabbit and the cat are related somehow."

"Did that rabbit decay quickly?" I asked, my nose wrinkled against the foul stench assaulting my nose.

"I don't know," my mom answered, "I disposed of it after taking some samples from it." She skillfully hacked away some of the cat's flesh and bagged it before taking a needle and drawing blood from it. "I'll perform some tests on it."

I stood back as my mom did whatever it was she did with disgustingly decayed cat corpses and wiped out. I gave Fang a wolfy grin and elbowed him in the side, picking on him for getting sick.

He narrowed his eyes at me in response.

Eventually, my mom came back from her lab. "I don't like it," she said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"They had the same virus. I don't know what it is, but it's spreading rapidly through their blood. That cat had a bad gash on its back. This isn't good."

I swallowed, my stomach churning. Maybe I should have picked on Fang for puking, because that's what I felt like doing now.

Yeah, this was definitely not good.


	6. Chapters Seven and Eight

_**Alrighty, I hope you guys are prepared for a long chapter! Chapter Seven wasn't long enough to publish on its own, so I had to post Chapter Eight with it as well. It's nearly a 3,000 word monster! I've had a lot of decent feedback recently and I'd like to thank MissMintCoffeeMocha and DemiSpy for their great reviews! I'd also like to welcome Dani the Witch to the story!**_

**_XOXO,_**

**_Girlreadsalot_**

* * *

Weekends were great. You could sleep in, eat pancakes, and watch hours of mindless television. You know, the kind that "rots your brain" or whatever. Well, you could do all of that stuff unless your name was Maximum Ride. In that case, you're probably breaking up WWIII between a pair of blonde haired, blue-eyed siblings.

"Angel, get back here!" Gazzy yelled, jumping over the coffee table to get to his sister.

The youngest member of the flock yelped and ran faster to get away from him, she ducked into the kitchen and crawled under the table.

The Gasman followed her.

"Whoa, watch it!" Iggy said, glaring in Nudge's general direction because she was chasing Gazzy. "I'm trying to have a cooking class."

Dylan's t-shirt was covered in flour from where Nudge had elbowed him out of the way.

Angel wormed her way from under the table and took off towards the living room again.

Gazzy was right behind her, blue eye shadow was thickly coated above his eyes, bright pink lipstick smeared across his face, mascara clinging to his long lashes. "I'm going to kill you, Angel!"

"Nudge helped me!"

"Hey!" Nudge objected, following Gazzy. "Gazzy, please let me finish and then I'll help you wipe it off!"

"No way!"

I resisted the urge to scream. Angel had used her mind control on her brother and had convinced him to let her and Nudge give him a makeover. He'd woken up halfway through it and was bound and determined to murder the two girls.

I really needed some backup, but Fang was MIA. I hadn't seen him all day. My mom was taking Ella to her soccer game, and Dylan and Iggy were being absolutely no help whatsoever.

As the terrible trio jetted past me to head up the stairs, I managed to reach out and snag Gasman by the arm and Nudge by her shirt. "Both of you need to knock it off," I growled. I was feeling particularly irritable and their bickering was making it worse.

"Angel was part of it too!" Nudge complained.

"She'll get hers when I see her little feathered butt," I vowed. "For now, Gazzy go wash your face. Nudge, you can fold the mountain of laundry in the laundry room. When I find Angel she can do the dishes. Got it?"

The pair of them nodded.

I released them and went on a hunt for a blonde seven year old. When I found her, Angel had shut herself in our room. "Ange, open up."

The door opened a crack. Her blue eye peered out at me.

"You know what you did was wrong, right?"

Of course she did. She was way too smart for your average kid. Once, I had her help me double cross the school. Then again, she was getting _too_ smart. She'd been in alliance with Gunter-Hans more than once and with Jeb (my absentee evil scientist sperm donor).

"Yeah and I'm sorry. Nudge and I were just messing around."

"You might have been only kidding, but that wasn't fair to your brother. You're not supposed to use your mind control on the flock."

"I know and I'm sorry!"

"You don't need to apologize to me, you need to apologize to Gazzy. When you're done doing that you can do the dishes. I'm sure Iggy and Dylan have made quite the mess in the kitchen by now."

She opened the door the rest of the way and sniffed.

I wasn't going to fall for it. A large number of betrayals from the little girl made me more than skeptical of her innocent act. "Alright, go apologize and then start on your punishment."

She nodded and hurried down the creaking stairs.

I went to the living room and flopped onto the couch with a sigh. I rubbed my temples while I wondered what the odds of a bird-girl dying from high blood pressure were.

The sliding glass door opened and Fang stepped inside before shutting it behind him. His mouth was set in a grim line.

His expression had me sitting up worriedly nearly instantly. "What is going on?"

Wordlessly, he reached over and flicked on the television.

A news anchor had a false look of sympathy as she spoke from behind the desk. "A woman from Denver was hospitalized today with symptoms of an illness nobody has ever seen before. Thirty-nine year old Michelle Whitney said she got attacked in the street on her way home from work. Her assailant cut her and then rubbed his blood in the wound. Since then, Ms. Whitney has had an intense fever, chills, hallucinations, and will react to random bouts of violence. If anybody you know has these symptoms please take them to the doctor _immediately_."

I blinked at the television for a few moments, trying to wrap my head around this information. "Okay...this could just be nothing. People get sick all of the time!"

"Not like this. Remember the rabbit and the cat? Both of them were bloody and badly injured. It could have easily been passed to them through blood to blood contact."

I knew he was right and the grimness of the truth was enough to make me want to vomit.

"Get a pack together."

I raised a brow at Fang. Since when was _he_ giving the orders around here? "Why? Where are we going?"

"I'll explain on the way. We'll probably be gone until morning, but we're going to get answers."

Fang and I soared through the warm night air silently. There were no stars and the humidity of the air suggested rain later on.

I couldn't remember the last time just Fang and I went on a flight together, on a mission with just the two of us. It was probably when the two of us had flown to DC to find Angel and Gazzy's parents. In case you didn't remember, that turned out nearly disastrous but oddly hilarious at the same time.

We'd been trapped in an abandoned house occupied by squatters and drug dealers and the only way out had been through them and then out the door. They had seen me and noticed I was a girl then had started going on about all of the horribly disgusting things they were going to do to me when Fang came to my rescue.

I laughed. It seemed too loud in the silent night.

Fang looked at me, startled. "What's so funny?"

"Remember when we fought our way out of that nasty house in D.C.? Just me and you? What was it that you said to those guys?"

He grinned at the memory and said in a dark and foreboding voice, "God doesn't like you." Then he started to laugh.

I could still see the flashlight under his chin casting his face into eerie shadows as he spread his black wings and advanced on America's Worst Scumbags.

"They were so scared they fell down the stairs!" I laughed, wiping tears from my eyes. "God, I've never seen something so hilarious in my entire life."

"I almost forgot about that."

"Me too."

We dissolved into fits of chuckles that subsided a few minutes later. After that, Fang got serious again. "We're almost there. It's a smaller branch of Itex, the building is nowhere near the size of the one in California. It looks like it's fairly new and trying to get on its feet."

"What about the guards?" I asked. "We're clearly out numbered."

"It had minimum security earlier today, so I doubt we'll run into anything like that. I don't think they'll have human subjects, either. Just some rats and stuff like that. It should be too hard to break in."

Up ahead, I spied the glow of fluorescent lights through windows of the building. It sat nestled in small foothills and valleys, nearly concealed from the world around it.

Fang had been right, it was really small.

"How did you even find this place?"

"Google," he answered with a smirk. "Anything can be found on the internet.

* * *

It was quiet and the only sounds I could hear were the sounds of my feathers rustling as I flapped my wings.

There were no guards, the lights were on, and I didn't see anybody inside. So far the only thing I was expecting to encounter was the janitorial staff. Basically, it looked harmless.

I knew better than that. On the inside there could be hundreds of forces to deal with. Anything from robots, clones, erasers, anything really. I couldn't help but think that Angel's mind reading ability would come in really handy about now.

Still, the office I was peering into was empty with the exception of dozens of silent computers.

Normally, I'd just crash into the window and make a grand entrance, but because we were going for subtlety I decided to jimmy it open and clumsily climb through it like a non-Neanderthal instead.

Fang wasn't far behind me and when he managed to slip through the window, we stared at the doors of the office, waiting for them to burst open. We didn't know what kind of enemy would come through there, but we'd be ready to start kicking ass when they did.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Fang dropped his hands to his side. "I don't think anybody's coming to attack us."

"Not yet anyway," I snorted.

The entire thing was unnerving. We should have been getting and giving our fair share of bruises, we should have been splitting our knuckles open on the faces of our enemies, and kicking butt instead of standing awkwardly in an empty room.

"Well," he said plopping down at one of the computers and cracking his knuckles. "Maybe we can find out what's going on without actually having to get our hands dirty."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to break into their computers."

I peered over his shoulder and watched as he failed miserably the first few attempts he made to hack the system. After that, I was too nervous to really pay attention and started pacing back and forth by the door, waiting to clobber anybody who walked in.

Judging by the swear words coming out of his mouth, Fang wasn't having much progress.

Nudge's computer hacking skill would have made our lives way easier if we would have thought to bring them. She was practically a computer whisperer.

I made a mental note to bring the rest of the flock with us the next time Fang and I decided to play detective as he got up from the computer desk.

"Any luck?"

He shook his head, his jaw tight with irritation. "Let's go to the lower levels and see what we can find. It doesn't seem like there's anybody here."

I gave him a stern look.

"But, we'll stay on guard anyway."

That was better.

We didn't see a single soul as we scoured the second floor of the building, then headed to the third.

I didn't like it one bit. Everything about it screamed "TRAP!" right at me. There should be guards, sirens, flashing lights, yelling and scattering whitecoats everywhere because we were breaking in. None of that was happening and it was taking every single one of my nerves of steel to keep me from freaking out and high-tailing it out of there like a coward.

At the bottom of an empty stairwell, Fang pushed open a door.

The smell hit me before I had even stepped inside. It was gut-wrenchingly repulsive, reeking of feces, urine, and dead animals.

"God," I breathed as I covered my nose with my arm.

Fang had the sleeve of his black hoodie pressed to his nose, but he wasn't looking at me. He was staring at something in the depths of the room. "Do you see it?" He asked. His voice sounded muffled and nasally from plugging his nose and talking into his sleeve.

The door swung shut behind me, throwing the room into total darkness with the exception of a pink emergency bulb.

I looked past him and nodded woodenly.

Cages upon cages were stacked up in the room, filled with things that I couldn't bear to look at. What horrible creations of science would I find? Kids missing arms, legs, and eyes? Babies with reptilian scales or the legs of a rooster? Or maybe a frog with human eyes. All things that were too horrible to picture, but twisted enough to come from the sick minds of the whitecoats.

As we passed the stacks of cages, I bent to peer inside. I steeled myself for the most horrible things I could ever think of, but my voice was surprised when I spoke. "They're just animals!"

"What?"

"Pets. Rabbits, dogs, cats, and parrots. You know, the things you buy from a pet store every day."

Fang came up beside me and bent to look in the cage.

Many of the animals were cut, bloodied, and near death. They were standing in their own excrement and among the carcasses of their fallen cage-mates. There was only so much room in the cages and they were practically stuffed full.

Instinctively, I reached for the latch but quickly yanked my hand back as the rats in the cage started hiss and spit. They were gnawing on the bars, climbing over one another to try and get to me.

"I don't think that's typical aggressive behavior, Max." He placed his hands on my shoulders and steered me away from the cage. "There's an exit up there, we should just get out of here."

I nodded in agreement.

We burst the door, taking a deep breath of not-tainted air (I never thought I'd consider the smell of sterilization as clean). It wasn't until I looked up and saw a man standing at a lab table, that I realized that this was a bad idea.

"We should have went out the way we came," I whispered.

Fang didn't answer, he just stared at the man. "Don't I know you?"

The man turned, a crazy smile on his face and I knew Fang was right. I'd seen that same look of pure insanity on the face of only one person before.

"Mark?" I asked with a scowl. "The crazy psycho from the Doomsday Group? What are you doing here?"

"You're too late, Max." He stared at me while one of the hands at his side stroked the brown fur of a dog strapped to the sterile lab table next to him.

"Too late for what?"

"The Ninety-Nine Percent Plan is in effect. You can't stop it now."

If his appearance wasn't creepy before, it was downright disturbing now. His skin was yellowed and stretched tight over his thin and frail features. His eyes were tinged yellow and bloodshot, practically bulging out of their sockets. He looked like a crack addict.

I couldn't do anything but stare as he raised a scalpel to his palm and sliced a long, thin cut across his bony hand. Then, he turned towards the dog and made a long incision along its shoulder before he started to rub his own blood into the cut.

I shivered. I'd seen some crazy things in my day, but this took the cake.

"That's how it spreads, isn't it?" Fang asked, "From blood-to-blood contact. Like HIV or AIDS."

Mark smiled, revealing that half of his teeth had rotted out of his head since the last time I saw him. "You're smart, Fang. Smarter than we gave you credit for. Some of it are calling it Croatoan, but there are some things that not many people know."

"Like?"

"Like the fact that there are only a select few that aren't immune. They are the one percent that gets to live. It's the survival of the fittest, and they're the ones that will make it. They're immune."

"You have the virus," I stated. I didn't tear my brown eyes away from him, I was watching his every move. If he was infected that meant that he was going crazy—crazier than he already ways, anyway.

His bulging eyes started to look manic and animalistic. His gaping grin widened to nightmarish proportions and he let out a giggled. "Yes." Then, faster than I thought an infected psychopath could move, he lunged for me.

Something about the disease must have made him stronger, because there was no way that somebody that frail should have been so strong.

He pinned me against the table, the scalpel in one hand and his bloody palm raised towards me.

I had a death-like grip on his wrists and used all of my strength to keep his hand away from me. I didn't want to get infected. I didn't want to die, but I also had to make sure that I wasn't touching the freshly-infected dog either.

A sound like a shriek of rage and an exhausted grunt.

My arms were burning and I didn't know how much longer they were going to hold. The scalpel was mere centimeters from my face, blood shining on the blade. I was so screwed if that thing touched me.

Just when I thought my elbows were going to buckle, Mark dropped to the floor like an ugly sack of potatoes.

Fang stood behind him, fury twinkling in his dark eyes. He dropped the microscope he had wielded as a club to the floor. "Let's get out of here."


	7. Chapters Nine and Ten

_**This is another two-fer chapter! Things are rapidly picking up speed and after this chapter are going to be full of action-packed drama-y goodness! Thank you to all of those who have followed and added this story to their favorites list! I'd like to give a special thanks to MissMintCoffeeMocha for being on the only person to review the last chapter! It means a lot to me. **_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

The sun is just climbing over the tops of the trees when we landed in the back yard of my mom's house.

Neither of us had spoken a single word on our flight back home. We were too busy trying to get there as fast as we could.

I threw open the door to the boys' room. The pungent odor of B.O., body spray, and a weird smell that was strictly unique to a boy's locker room wafted out at me. "Get up. Meet me in the kitchen in three minutes or else."

I didn't stick around to see them crawl out of bed. I opened up my bedroom door and woke up the girls.

"What is it, Max?" Angel asked with a sleepy yawn.

_I'll explain once everybody's together downstairs_, I thought at her, _but hurry up, it's important._

Five minutes later, a sleepy flock (my mom and Ella included) were gathered around the kitchen table. They were all still very tired and in their pajamas.

Dylan was missing his stupid shirt, revealing his well-toned and rather dreamy chest. Nudge's hair was more out of control and wild than usual, Gazzy had sleep in his eyes and was practically dozing back off where he sat, and Angel stared at me expectantly, while I waited to talk.

"What are we doing up so early?" Iggy grumbled.

There was no easy way to say it. I just had to come right out with it. "The Ninety-Nine Percent Plan is in effect."

"Well," he shot up, "I'm going back to bed. Wake me up with less terrible news."

"Sit!"

Once the initial shock was over and I had everybody's attention again, I started to speak again. "I guess other people are calling it Croatoan but whatever we call it, it's nasty. It attacks the blood, then causes some sort of damage to the brain or something. When I saw Mark I didn't exactly ask him how he lost hhis mind."

"Mark?" Dylan asked.

"You know, Mark from the Doomsday Group?"

Recognition flickered through the Gasman's blue eyes and he pressed his lips into a hard line. Mark had tried to kill him and nearly had killed Angel.

"We had a pleasant run in with him last night. He was infected and it made him," I swallowed at the fresh memory of his deathly frail body and his yellowed skin. His boney fingers had dug into my wrist, leaving bruises behind. "It made him crazy. Itex was smart about how they released the virus. They infected animals and let them lose. The animals infected pets and then those pets infected their humans."

I met Nudge's gaze, "The rabbit you guys helped a couple weeks ago was infected."

She jumped up from her seat, nearly hitting Dylan in the head with her wing. "_Ew_! Oh my god! That thing was _infected_?! Does that mean _I'm _infected? Max, what if I'm infected with Croadtoad?!"

"It's Croatoan," Angel corrected her.

"Whatever, that doesn't matter. What matters is if I have it or not!"

"Did it cut you?" Fang asked over my shoulder.

Nudge shook her head, her wild hair flopping back and forth.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. From now on everybody has to be really careful about not getting cuts and not touching anybody's blood." He looked at my mom, "That goes for you too, Dr. Martinez. Especially, because you don't know if the animals you're working with have been infected or not."

She nodded.

"Total, watch your tail too." I added.

His shiny black nose twitched at me and he said, "Of course."

The imminent doom settled over the kitchen like a storm cloud. Nobody spoke for a long time, because what was there to say besides, "Nice going Max. You didn't stop the apocalypse like you were supposed to"?

"Hey, Max?" The Gasman finally asked. He looked at me with hope in his round eyes. "Does this mean we don't have to go to school anymore?"

I groaned and leaned against the counter, rubbing my temples. I didn't know what to say. I was tired, hungry, and growing more irritable by the second.

There was only two weeks left of school and as much as I hated the place, it would be nice to say we went to school for at least a year. Still, I didn't know how to answer that question because if one of the flock got infected by somebody at the school it would be my fault.

I looked at my mom for help.

"There's only two weeks left," she said. "You guys can keep going to school, but if something fishy happens you need to get out of there. Okay?"

I nodded, that sounded reasonable enough. "Stay on red alert constantly," I warned them.

Moans and groans came from various, displeased members of the flock.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

"YAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOO!" The Gasman screamed as he shot through the sky, laughing before he went into a dive.

School was finally over for the year and I couldn't be more relieved. No more constantly watching our backs, studying people to make sure they didn't have any exposed cuts or wounds, and most importantly, no more homework.

Even though the virus had been released, hardly any reports of it have been witnessed. There had been a few people infected, all of them had been were in the hospitals. Depending on how severe their stages of the infection were, people died within days or within a week.

I loved the feeling of the warm summer sun on my skin as I soared through the air. The wind whipped through my hair and feathers and smiled…until Dylan came soaring over to me. "What do you want?"

His wings pumped powerfully as he hovered near me. "Max, I was wondering…Sydney is having a bonfire to kick off the summer and she invited us to go."

My first instinct was to tell him no and to get lost until I looked around at the flock and noticed that Iggy was listening and Fang was staring at me waiting for an answer. With the virus being spread, I could see the night heading south rather quickly, but it was just one night and the three of them looked like they really wanted to go.

"Okay," I said, "The four of us older kids can go. I'll see if my mom will keep an eye on the younger three."

Dylan gave me his million-dollar movie star smile, "Thanks! I'll let her know we're coming, then!"

* * *

As much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of enjoying myself at Sydney's bonfire.

As it turns out, Sydney's family own a decent sized chunk of property on the lake on the outskirts of town and the fire was flickering on the rocky shore, all of us attendees were sitting on log benches and plastic lawn chairs around it.

It wasn't a big party, just us and a few of Sydney's friends. They sat around sipping their soda, eating their hotdogs and chips, picking on one another and having a fairly good time.

There was plenty to eat, hotdogs, marshmallows, grahm-crackers, and lots of soda. There was no alcohol because Sydney's parents were out of town and they had no way to get any (even though she assured me that if they were, they wouldn't let her have it anyway).

Everybody sitting around the fire seemed to be fairly decent human beings. I knew better than anybody that looks were deceiving, but all of Sydney's friends were harmless from what I could tell. They carried on quiet conversations and one kid even strummed on his guitar. If I remembered correctly his name was Tony.

I was sitting on the rocky ground in front of the log, resting my back against it. Fang sat on the log just to my left and Iggy on his.

Dylan sat on the adjacent one, his arm around Sydney. He seemed to be enjoying himself as well, an easy smile on his face.

Tony was playing his guitar humming softly, and I had to admit that he wasn't that bad at it. Every once in a while, he'd stop to scratch at his leg, then resume the light tune he'd been plucking away at for the past thirty minutes.

I licked marshmallow off my fingers, "You know, I have to admit that this isn't half bad."

Iggy made a sound of agreement before saying, "Yeah, this is kind of fun. Should I tell Tony that his G is a little flat on that thing?"

I shrugged, I hadn't noticed anything about the kid's guitar playing except that he stopped to scratch his leg every few minutes.

Behind me, Fang was tense. He had hardly said anything all night. He was kind of an introvert and would probably rather be home on his blog than being in public pretending to be social.

I twisted around to offer him a burnt marshmallow. "Marsh—"

Fang didn't even look at me, he was too busy staring narrow-eyed at Tony, who was really going to town on that spot on his calf.

I knew what he was getting at immediately, something was wrong.

Before I could ask him what had happened to his leg, Sydney beat me to the punch. "Tony, what's wrong with you? You've been digging your nails into your leg all night."

"I don't know, man." He replied, setting his guitar down and rolling up his pant leg, revealing an angry red and oozing wound. "I was jogging the other day and got bit by a dog. It's itching like hell, I think it might be infected."

The gooey glob of sugary deliciousness I'd swallowed stuck halfway down my throat. I stared at the guitarist, my hackles raising. I turned and looked at Fang as I choked down the rest of the marshmallow.

"Was the dog bleeding?" I asked him.

"I don't know, man. It was just really mean. It was growling and snarling at me, its mouth covered in blood and stuff."

"You didn't think to go to the hospital?" Iggy asked.

Tony's eyes widened as he stared at the cut. "Do you think I have rabies or something?"

That did it. I jumped up, dropping my marshmallow stick in the process. "It's worse than rabies." I looked at the older members of the flock. "We have to go."

"Max, what's going on?" Dylan demanded, his tone annoyed as I stomped away from the bonfire and towards the woods so we could fly off.

"Are you really that stupid? He's _infected_! He's got Croatoan! We need to get out of here _tonight_."

Dylan opened and closed his mouth dumbly as he stared at me.

"She's right," Fang said as he unfurled his massive black wings. They looked like shadows in the darkness of the night. "We have to go."

He snapped his mouth shut and with a scowl launched himself into the night sky.

Fang, Iggy, and I didn't hesitate to follow him.


	8. Chapter Eleven

_**Oh my god! Over the past week I've gotten, like, a dozen reviews for this story! I have the best readers, thank you soooo much! I'd especially like to thank "Guest", theDanman2241, MissMintCoffeeMocha, AnikaandAJ, and anybody else who reviewed other chapters! It means so much to me! Thank you all so much for the feedback. I'm glad you're enjoying this story so much.**_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

"Max, we have to go back—"

I growled, Dylan was being more obnoxious than usual and with adrenaline coursing through my veins I honestly thought I was going to knock his perfect teeth down his throat. "We're not going back, Dylan! _Drop it_."

For one of the first time since I've seen him, Dylan looked really cheesed. "Are you serious right now? You're willing to let an innocent human being die!"

"You know what," I snapped, flying up to face him. I flapped my wings to keep myself hovering in front of him. "There are billions of people in the world and if I could save them all I would. I can't stop this infection from spreading and I can hardly keep the flock safe. What makes you think I can take care of the entire world?! You don't understand what it's like. So, just…just shut up already!"

He stared at me, but I didn't give him time to say anything to me because I was already out of ear shot, flying towards the house.

I landed in the yard and threw open the sliding glass door. I must have looked seriously panicked because the rest of the flock, my mom, and Ella were on their feet instantly.

"What's wrong, Max?" Nudge asked, her brows furrowed in concern.

"The virus is here. We need to pack our things and get out of here tonight."

I was proud of the way everybody jumped into action, the younger kids going upstairs to pack everybody's things while us older kids helped my mom start packing boxes full of food from the kitchen. Who knew how much we were going to need and how long we were going to have to make it last?

I was hefting a rather large box into the back of mom's SUV when Dylan appeared over my shoulder again. I gritted my teeth, "I'm not arguing with you again."

"Fine, Max!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "You think I'm the one that doesn't understand this, but you don't get it either!"

"Oh really? Why is that?"

"You don't know what it's like to be in love! You have no freaking clue."

It felt like he'd just dumped an icy bucket of water over my head. Dylan never snapped or shouted at me. Once I regained my senses enough to say something back to him, he was gone. I could see his large and powerful wings carrying him through the night sky.

I cursed under my breath but kept shuffling stuff around in the back of mom's car anyway. If he wasn't back by the time we hit the road it was entirely his fault. I wasn't going to feel bad if he missed the bus.

"Where did Dylan go?" Angel asked me after I'd gone upstairs to make sure we all had a backpack packed and ready to go.

I shrugged, "I don't know and I don't care."

"You don't mean that."

"He knows we're leaving. If he's not back in time to leave with us, that's his problem. Not mine."

She looked at me with a gaze that was way too serious for a seven year old. "I know you still have mixed feelings for him. It's easier for you to forget about them now that he has a girlfriend, but they're still there."

I narrowed my eyes at her and shouldered the backpack she'd packed for me. "If I wanted a psycho-therapy session I'd pay for one, Ange. We're leaving in twenty."

Once the car was packed with food, bottles of water, and extra clothes we all gathered outside ready to take off.

"You can ride with mom and Ella or you can fly with us." I told Total.

The black down fluffed his wings and stood as straight as he could, "And miss the wind ruffling my fur? Not a chance."

Fang and I met each other's gazes and rolled our eyes.

"Alright guys," I announced, "Dylan isn't back yet because he's throwing a fit but that's his problem now. Let's take—"

Rustling in the woods at the edge of the yard caught my attention. I snapped my mouth shut and clenched my hands into fists, ready to kick ass and take names. What else would be in the woods this late at night besides Croats?

_Angel, get everybody in the air. This reeks of bad news._

The little blonde girl nodded and spread her wings before flapping them and taking off. The others—except for Fang—followed her lead.

My hands were shaking with adrenaline, I took a deep breath, and just as I saw some white breaching the thickets of brush I lunged. I kicked forward, catching the figure in the gut, then brought my elbow up into his face.

"Ouch, Max! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I froze at the familiar voice, dropping my fist poised for another strike down to my side. "_Dylan_?"

"Yeah, it's me." He said, one hand up at his nose as blood dripped from it. "I think you broke my freakin' nose!"

"Well, that's what you get for sneaking around when the Croatoan virus is infecting people like wildfire!" I sucked in a deep breath to gather enough air for the thorough verbal ass-kicking he was going to get for ditching us. "What the hell was your little hissy fit about?! You know we were literally thirty seconds away from leaving your sorry ass here! I don't care if you think the Queen of England needs to be saved, Flock comes first! God, you're such a f—"

"_Max_!" He cut me off.

"Seriously," I ignored him and continued, "What the hell was that?! I should kick your feathered ass from here to next Tuesday. Do you understand how serious this situation is?"

"I couldn't just leave her there."

I blinked at him confusedly. "What are you talking about?"

Dylan stepped aside to reveal Sydney standing behind him. Her green eyes were wide and she wiggled her fingers in a small wave.

"I hope you don't mind," She said, "My parents are on their second honeymoon on a cruise in Bermuda. He told me if I stayed I would die."

I muttered, "Well, he wasn't wrong. You can ride with my mom and Ella."

After everybody was situated, the three of us took off into the night. I was two-hundred percent away of the nasty looks Fang was giving Dylan from over my shoulder the entire time.

As we flew, I wondered how many people were oblivious about the ninety-nine percent plan. Even if they knew what was going on, was there a way for them to stay safe? The virus was gaining speed and would soon be infecting thousands of people a day—if not more. In two or three days nearly everybody was going to be infected.

There was no way to stop it. There was no cure. Even if there was one, how would I be able to get to it and administer it to everybody who needed it? There was no way in hell there'd be enough to save everybody.

Sydney had made me realize something when she said her parents were on a cruise. Millions of people traveled out of the country every day. The virus was going to be global if it wasn't already. Having to save the entire country was one thing. Saving the entire plant was another ball of wax entirely.

I was supposed to be the one to save them. Now I wasn't so sure I could even save myself. Millions—no, _billions_—were going to die because of me. I couldn't stop it.

Angel flew over to me, her blonde curls tangling in the wind. "It's not your fault."

I looked at her, "What?"

"It's not your fault. By the time we knew what was happening the virus had already been released. You couldn't have done anything to stop it."

It didn't really make me feel better. "Thanks, Angel."

Her face told me that she knew I didn't feel better about the situation. "We'll do our best to keep it from spreading now, right?"

I supposed that was the only thing we could do. "Right."

Angel slowed the speed she flapped her pure white wings and fell back so she was flying next to disappointed Nudge. The flock's chatterbox hadn't really been saying much over the past few hours when we'd left.

Actually, all of the flock seemed pretty downtrodden. The disappointment was clear on all of their faces (except for Fang, but he'd never been good at expressing his feelings anyway).

Nudge had made a lot of friends at school. She'd set her sights high enough to want to be a fashion designer and go to art school.

Iggy was leaving his band, which he'd worked so hard to get a gig at the music festival for.

Gazzy was leaving behind his pee-wee football team. He'd excelled at the sport because he was fast, tough little kid and Angel was leaving behind friends of her own.

I couldn't even imagine what was going on in my mom's car below us. Ella had lived in Arizona her whole life, my mom had made a successful animal clinic, and even though I didn't know Sydney very well I had to feel bad for her too. She wouldn't have come with us if she'd thought she'd never see her family again.

We were leaving everything behind again. We were homeless and struggling to survive once more.

The sun was starting to come up at our backs and I was feeling exhausted. I knew the rest of the flock was tired too, we'd been flying for hours and we hadn't done that in over a year.

My mom had been driving for nearly eight hours straight on no sleep and I knew she had to be getting tired too.

The SUV turned into a motel parking lot, you know, the one with roaches eating through the carpet and mold growing in the tile grout in the bathroom.

I signaled for the flock to go down. We'd take some time to rest before hitting the road again.


	9. Chapters Twelve and Thirteen

_**Hi guys! This chapter is going to be another one where you get two chapters in one update! I'm letting you know ahead of time that there will be three weeks this summer where I won't be able to update. It'll be the last week in June and then the second and third week of July. I work at a place that will be holding youth camps three weeks out of the summer and I'll be working those three weeks. But, I'll use it as an excuse to get further ahead in the plot, considering we're up to Chapter Thirteen and I'm only up to Chapter Twenty in the plotline. I'd like to give a shout out to the only person who reviewed the last chapter, MissMintCoffeeMocha! Thank you so much! Guys, please tell me what you think/how you feel about these chapters so I can have ideas for the future!**_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

We landed on the cracking asphalt of the motel.

Gazzy was so tired that he nearly tripped upon landing. Thankfully, Fang had been right there and had kept him on his feet.

"You guys okay?" My mom asked me as I shrugged on my windbreaker.

"Yeah, I guess." I looked around at my worn-out and sad looking flock. "I mean, besides the end of the world, we're great. What about you?"

My mom shrugged. "My whole life was back there, but survival is more important. At least I'm with my family." She gave my shoulders a squeeze before pushing open the door to the motel's office.

The interior hadn't been updated since the seventies. The walls were this ugly blue green pattern that repeated again and again, the carpet was ugly yellow shag, and it smelled like mothballs.

Ultimately, mom rented out two rooms, all as hideously decorated as the lobby had been. We divided into two groups consisting of boys and girls (because no matter how much Dylan and Sydney were in _looove_, we weren't letting them share a bed together. We aren't Neanderthals.).

Just about everybody was done for the count by the time we'd made ourselves comfortable. Like usual, I'd volunteered for first watch and I'd take my post after I showered.

I let the hot water pouring from the tap with crummy water pressure run over my skin, relaxing my muscles from a long flight. I breathed in the steam as it clouded the bathroom, glad that I could take twenty minutes to relax and enjoy my shower instead of rushing through it because somebody needed the bathroom.

I stepped out, wrapping myself in a towel. I took a hand and wiped away the condensation on the mirror. I took a brief minute to study myself before dressing, pulling a brush through my wet, ratty hair, and brushing my teeth.

I smiled to myself as I packed up my dirty clothes.

Nudge and Angel were sprawled out over one of the beds, Total wedged between them. Angel was snoring a little and Total was chasing something in his sleep.

My mom and Ella were curled up on the other bed. Ella had all of the covers wrapped around herself despite the heat in the room (apparently, nobody turned on the rattling air conditioner).

Sydney was on the floor between in the beds in a sleeping bag, an extra pillow from one of the beds cushioned her head. Her blonde hair was a large mass of ratty blonde curls. It was the only part of her I could see. She was burrowed deep into the sleeping bag.

I flopped into a chair in the corner of the room, letting the sounds of my sleeping flock surround me. I was exhausted, but taking watch was really important. Especially when the Croatoan virus was spreading so rapidly. Who knew if some crazy person was going to bust through the door and try to kill us all?

With nothing to keep me company, I caught myself drifting in and out of sleep a time or two. I decided that maybe getting a sugary, caffeinated, bad-for-me drink from the vending machine would be a good idea. At least it would keep me awake for a while.

When I entered the hallway, I tripped over something. "Ouch, what the hell?"

"Sorry, Max." Fang said, making himself visible. I often forgot about his ability to blend into his surroundings. "I figured I'd have the advantage on the Croats if they couldn't see me."

"Good tactic." I pressed my back against the door and slid down it so I was sitting across from him.

The boys had gotten a room across the hall and Fang was sitting with his back against the door, computer open on his knees. He didn't pay attention to me as he typed away on his computer. His fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard, typing with years of practice.

I remembered when he first got that thing he could only type by poking at the keyboard with his index fingers on both hands. Now, he could probably put the hackers in the movies to shame.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Although, I was pretty sure I knew the answer before I'd even asked.

"I'm warning people about the virus," He said, his dark eyes darting from his illuminated computer screen to my face.

"On your blog?"

He nodded.

I had to give Fang credit for still running his blog after so much time. Especially when teenage girls had reached a level of crazy even _I _hadn't encountered. They'd started saying things like, "_Fang, you and Max are my OTP! When are you going to have babes 3 I srsly ILY 5evr!_".

I shuddered. I hadn't planned on having babies, like, ever. Let alone babies with Fang. Not only was our relationship complicated, but I had bigger things to worry about like _staying alive_.

"I think," Fang said, breaking the silence. "That the more people who have a heads up about this thing, the better chance they have at surviving."

"Makes sense," I replied. "It'll give them a chance to find a safe place to get away."

We lapsed into silence again and I started picking at a scab on my elbow. The people that Fang was warning were people like Sydney. They didn't have a single clue as to what was going on and when they did they could find a way to protect themselves. The difference between them and Sydney was that she had a hunky chunk of bird-kid to protect her.

"What do you think about that stupid stunt Dylan pulled earlier?"

Fang shrugged. "You love who you love, I guess."

"They just met! How can they be all mushy-gushy in love if they've known each other for an entire month?!"

I didn't sound jealous…right?

"Her being with us is the safest option. She has a better chance surviving with us than she has on her own."

God, did I mention how much I _hated _it when he was right?

How many kids like Sydney were out there? Alone, parentless, and doomed? Probably too many to count.

"Max," Fang said breaking me out of my oh-so-cheery thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You look like crap."

I snorted, "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself."

He had dark bruise-like circles under his dark eyes, his hair was dirty and disheveled, and he looked pale.

"Get some sleep," He said, "I'll take over."

I stood up, too tired to argue. "Maybe you should wake up Iggy or Dylan. They can take over for you. You're not looking so hot yourself."

Fang stood up and nodded. "Night Max."

I opened the door and looked over my shoulder at him, "Goodnight, Fang."

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

It was a super-hot, cloudless day. The sun beat down on us from above, giving me a mild sunburn and making me sweat like a whore in church. If I looked down, I could see the heat waves rolling off the pavement of the interstate below.

I worried about the flock staying hydrated and not over exhausting themselves in the heat. I mean, if we could handle flying over Africa (which by the way is not a small continent), I wasn't too worried about dropping out of the sky. Still, I cared about the flock and wanted them to stay healthy.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Angel as I tipped my wings and soared over to her in a large, lazy arc.

"Good," She answered. She wiped her arm across her sweaty forehead. "I'm getting thirsty but I think I'll wait until your mom pulls into a gas station. She's thinking about pulling off in a few exits."

I glanced down at my mom's SUV below us. We had to fly slower than we were used to so she could keep up with us, but it was the best way for all of us to travel.

"Okay," I told Angel, "That sounds good. I'm getting a little hungry and I really have to pee."

She gave me a gap-toothed grin.

Twenty minutes later we were landing in a gas station parking lot.

"Oh my god," Nudge whispered, "It looks like a ghost town."

My brown eyes scanned across the parking lot. It had no cars, all of the gas pumps had plastic bags over the handles and "No Fuel" signs stuck to them, the building was empty, the shelves barren, and windows shattered.

"Max, what happened?"

"I think people started to realize that this really is the end of the world. They took _everything_. Iggy, go tell my mom that we're going to have to find somewhere else to get gas. I'm going pee."

Iggy gave me a salute before heading towards my mom's car.

I followed the peeling signs that directed me towards the restroom. It was a creepy little door on the backside of the building. I almost considered holding it a while longer or going behind a tree, but my bladder was threatening to explode.

I went in, locking the door behind me. I tried not to think of all of the nasty things in there while I did my business. I was happy to wash my hands and get out.

I opened the door and shrieked as two rough hands grabbed me and slammed me against the wall. All of the air was knocked out of my lungs and I saw stars as the back of my head hit the brick wall I'd been slammed against.

The man was grimy, thin, and covered with dirt and blood. His eyes had the same discoloration as the whites of Mark's eyes had had and there was no sign of sanity in them. "It's dangerous to be out by yourself little girl," he hissed.

I gagged on his foul breath. It smelled like he'd been eating road kill for a month. My strained against his grip. He had a filthy hand at my throat and another clamped over my mouth. I pressed my lips together as tightly as I could. Lord only knew what was on his hands and there was no way in hell I was going to ingest it.

Normally, I'd clamp down on his hand and wouldn't let go until he was missing a decent sized chunk of flesh but I couldn't do that with Croatoan going around.

So, I did the next best thing. I brought a foot up and kicked him right where it hurt the most, thinking that he'd loosen his grip on me and I could get away.

I was wrong.

Kicking him had only infuriated him more and he pressed on my throat harder. "You know," he spat, "I'm starving. I eat and eat, but I'm _always_ hungry. I ate Mrs. Nelson from down the street this morning. Lord only knows how long she'd been dead, but I'm still hungry."

Vomit rose up in the back of my throat. The dead animal smell on his breath hadn't been just dead animals. It had been a dead _human_.

I thrashed against him and only managed to make him grab my throat tighter and scrape the hell out of my arms, back, and wings.

"I'm going to kill you and I'm going to _eat _you."

My vision was starting to get dark spots as I struggled to breathe through just my nose while he was squeezing my throat.

This was how I was going to die? Right outside some nasty gas station bathroom? I never thought I'd go out like this.

Just when I thought I was going to pass out, something sounded from behind the man with a loud _thud._ Kind of like the sound of a baseball bat connecting with a watermelon.

The man released his grip, swayed on his feet, then collapsed to the pavement.

I sucked in grateful lungfuls of air, wheezing and coughing as I did so. When I looked up I saw Sydney standing behind the man, her green eyes wide as she looked at the crowbar in her hands. It was almost like she couldn't believe that she'd struck him.

"Thanks," I rasped.

Sydney reached out her hand for me, "Come on."

Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. I could probably grow to like her.

Back at the car, my mom fussed over the bruises at my throat and the scratches on my arms while the rest of the flock hovered around in concern.

"Mom, I told you I was fine!" I insisted, "He wasn't going to infect me, he was going to _eat _me!"

When my mom decided that I was okay and wasn't going to keel over dead she started handing out bottles of water to the flock.

"Thanks for what you did back there," I told Sydney when we were out of earshot from the others. "I probably would have died."

"Well, you would have done the same for me."

"That's what I do. I save people…or, I try to anyways."

"Have you saved people before?"

I shrugged, wiping my hands on my jeans. "I try."

"She's saved me before," Angel piped up, worming her way between the two of us. "A couple of times, actually!"

Sydney stared at me star-struck, like I was some sort of superhero. But I wasn't a hero, I never was and it made me a little uncomfortable.

I left the two blonde girls standing there talking. I stuck my head through the broken window and called into Iggy and Gazzy (they were scrounging around the gas station for candy), "C'mon boys, let's go!"

"Max," Iggy protested. "It's the end of the world! Who cares if my teeth rot out of my head?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "That's not the point, nimrod. Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."


	10. Chapter Fourteen

_**Wow! It was a stretch to write this chapter! I wasn't sure if it was going to get done or not because the past two days have been insane for me (thanks to one of my horses decided to cut his leg open clear to the artery yesterday. Don't worry! He's fine, the vet came and gave him stitches but UGH!) but I got it done! I'm really proud of the way this chapter turned out, so I hope you guys enjoy it too! I'd like to thank MissMintCoffeeMocha for being the ONLY person to review the last chapter. What's going on? Why the sudden silence from you guys? Please let me know how I'm doing. **_

_**XOXO,**_

_**Girlreadsalot**_

* * *

I swore to god if I had to stomach another gas station hotdog I was going to scream.

It had been about two days of subpar motels and taking potty breaks in bathrooms with unidentifiable slime on the floor. That wasn't even the scariest part.

The most horrifying thing was the fact that the further we went, there seemed to be fewer and fewer people. Less traffic, nobody on the streets, nobody in parking lots, no cars, just…nothing.

It's always said that the world was a big place, but you don't really realize how big it was until you didn't see hardly anybody in it.

"Max," Angel spoke to me, interrupting my doom and gloom thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Your mom is going to check into the hotel a few miles up the road. She said Ella isn't feeling good."

"Is she okay?" Iggy asked, gliding over to Angel. His strawberry blonde hair had been getting a little to shaggy to begin with and it was now sticking up in disorderly tufts due to the wind.

Angel looked down at the SUV below, thoughtfully. "She says her stomach hurts really bad."

"It's probably just the flu, Ig." I assured him. "She hasn't had a run-in with any of the Croats. She'll be fine." But I felt a little flicker of doubt.

The parking lot of the hotel we stopped in had been vacant, which wasn't that big of a surprise. There were hardly any cars in parking lots anymore. All of the lights were off and the doors were locked.

Luckily, us bird-kids had no remorse for breaking into buildings that were locked up tighter than the President's desk.

"I'll go with Dylan," Fang said.

I couldn't help but give him a surprised look. The two of them weren't exactly the best of friends. The last time the two of them had been alone together for an extended period of time, (if I remembered correctly) a couch ended up in flames.

"We'll behave, Max." Dylan assured me with a big smile before slinging his arm over Fang's shoulder in what was meant to be a brotherly gesture.

Fang returned the gesture with a glare that made _me_ shudder in fear.

It had the desired effect and Dylan dropped his arm to the side. "We'll take the right half of the building, all three floors. You and Iggy okay to take the other half?"

We nodded.

Please, with Iggy's super awesome hearing we'd hear a threat before the threat heard us.

I knew Dylan and Fang would be okay because Dylan had exceptional eyesight and Fang was a great fighter.

Iggy and I took the left wing.

It was nearly impossible to see with the electric out. I was thankful that Iggy was wearing a white t-shirt. I could see his outline, but not much past him. Even with my super-duper eyesight.

"It's so dark in here," I muttered before I'd realized my mistake.

"Welcome to my world, Max. Welcome to my world."

I swatted at the back of his head, but he must've heard the air moving because he ducked and my hand went over the top of his stupidly tall head.

"Play nice, Max." Iggy chastised.

We walked through the halls carefully, but Iggy hadn't heard anything suspicious and nothing seemed particularly Croatoan-y.

On our way back down the narrow stairwell the pitch-black was illuminated by the lights. Fang and Dylan must've found the breaker box.

"Oh thank god," I said, "I can finally see."

Iggy exclaimed, "Me too! Oh wait…no I can't."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I can practically hear you roll your eyes, Max."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you actually could."

We all got settled for the night, splitting into groups of two, taking up ten rooms on the same floor. I ended up sharing a room with Sydney and that was okay with me considering I knew she could swing a tire iron like she was Babe Ruth.

While she was in the shower, I laid on my bed so I could relax for a little bit.

That lasted about ten whole minutes.

"Max?" My mom called pounding on the door to my room. She sounded a little flustered and it made me nervous because Ella was sick.

I jumped up from my bed and yanked open the door, "Yeah? Is it Ella? What's wrong with her?"

My mom put her hands on my shoulders while the words escaped me in a rush of breath. "Ella…she was hurting for a while, but now she's fine." My mom let out a relieved laugh and hugged me. "She's not infected. She was cramping."

I stared at her a little dumbly. "Cramping?"

"Cramping."

"Cramping."

"Ella started her period today," My mom said.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, relieved that it was nothing worse than Mother Nature making another young adult's life awful. "Well, that's a good thing right? She's not infected."

"The thing is…when we were hastily packing all of our stuff we never thought to pack the, erm, _items_ needed for this situation."

"Oh! Ella needs tampons."

My mom nodded. "Would you mind flying to town and finding some for her?"

I nodded, assuring her it wasn't a problem. I went down the hall and knocked on the Fang's door.

Iggy opened it, his hair mussed from the pillow and sleep in his eyes. "What?"

"Where's Fang?"

"Passed out, sleeping like a rock." He answered, his voice cracking with sleep. "Why?" He brought a pale hand up and scrubbed at his blind blue eyes.

"You up for a little flight?"

He nodded, "Lemme put some shoes on."

"Great, I'm going to get Dylan." I moved a few doors down and pounded on the door that the bird-kid in question was sharing with The Gasman.

"Max," He said opening it up and looking around. He frowned, "What's going on?"

"You, Iggy, and I are going to town. I'd like you to come with me. We could really use your eyes."

"Yeah sure," He said with a nod. "Let me put a shirt on."

"You do that."

Fifteen minutes later we were landing in the small city about ten miles away from the hotel we were staying in. It was dark, only the streetlights and traffic signals were working. It was also empty and extremely creepy.

We moved as silently as we could.

I was super paranoid and peering through the darkness as far as my enhanced eyes could see, looking for any movement or signs of Croats.

Bringing Iggy was a pure stroke of genius on my part. With his awesome hearing he was able to take alternate routes, avoiding all contaminated and infected people in the process. He was also really handy for picking the lock in the convenience store.

With all feminine hygiene products placed securely in my pack, we were ready to takeoff again.

I was a four strides into my running take off when I heard a blood curdling scream. It halted me right in my tracks and I nearly face planted onto the uneven sidewalk.

"_Help! _Somebody please help me!" The voice shouted desperately.

Dylan looked at me, unsure of what he should do. "What should we do?"

I opened my mouth to tell him we were going to ignore it and keep going but the desperate cries for help cut me off. "It's my son! Please, somebody help me!"

After hearing that, I'd made up my mind and took off in the direction I'd heard the woman yelling. I rounded the corner and stopped when I saw the woman kneeling under a streetlight, a small boy cradled in her arms as she sobbed.

"Ma'am?" I said taking a few tentative steps towards her. "Hello?"

Dylan wrapped his hand around my arm and stopped me. "Don't, Max." He wasn't looking at me—or her, for that matter—he was looking past her, into the darkness that surrounded her.

"Why not? She needs help."

"It's too dangerous."

I followed his gaze, a protest on my lips but it never escaped.

From the darkness and the shadows, a few of the infected started to appear. They walked unnaturally towards the woman and her son.

"Please help me," The mother said to the nearest figure. "M-My son, he's been infected. It's starting to take effect."

It didn't take long before they had her surrounded.

"No!" She clambered to her feet, holding her limp son's body close to her chest as if she could protect him from what was about to happen. "_No_!"

Then, like sharks feeding in chummed waters, the Croats lunged for the woman. Her screams weren't quite covered up by the hungry and angered snarling. She screamed and screamed and screamed until they stopped with a garbled wet sound.

I couldn't tear my eyes away as the Croats tore her apart, eating whatever parts of her they could get their hands on.

I swallowed the vomit rising up in the back of my throat and made the motion for Dylan and Iggy to take to the sky while the Croats were still distracted.

I couldn't erase the woman's tortured screams, the sight, and the smell of her blood from my memory. It'd be a miracle if I slept at all that night.


End file.
